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Guide to Malfunction
= AI Malfunction = You are a Malfunctioning AI and you have one goal : Cleanse the station of all organic lifeforms. How you go about that is up to you, but this guide will give you a walk-through on what is expected from a malfunctioning AI. As a Malfunctioning AI you have to prevent the crew from killing you while you take over the station's systems. If you win, you can either blow up the station by activating the "disarmed" fission nuclear device in the Vault (in your Malfunction tab once full control is acquired) or let the station and any survivors aboard it exist in peace and under your full control. Taking Control Your goal is ultimately to take control of the station's electronic systems. That might sound complex, but all you truly need to do is hack APCs using a special function unlocked by your Malfunction and when the time is right trigger Delta Status to slowly (or depending on your presence on the powernet, quickly) take them over. Outside of that, all abilities available to a regular AI are also available to you and your Cyborgs can always help you control more complicated, isolated or non-electronic systems like the station's Atmospherics. Hacking The main and only way to ensure your victory is to hack APCs on the station itself (and only on the station) to shorten the takeover countdown and when the time is right trigger it. Even if you have already activated your system override, hacking APCs will continue to reduce your countdown to victory and increase your shunting selection, so never stop hacking those APCs ! Note however that your control on the station is also indirectly ruled by a few other things : * Most common machinery like APCs, Air Alarms and Airlocks have AI Wires which can and most likely will be cut to block you from using them once discovered. Cut wires cannot be fixed by an AI and will need the intervention of an Engineering Cyborg or a sympathetic crewman. * While Atmospherics tampering is a perfect way to create chaos, any halfway competent crewman can easily cut you away from it by using manual valves. Note however that it is usually only done when the AI is confirmed to be rogue. If you observe such behavior before anyone even suspects you, adminhelp it. * Cameras are your eyes and the crew will naturally want to limit your oversight on the station once you go berserk on them. Expect them to cut important cameras, notably the ones allowing you to tamper with important machinery (Telecommunications, Atmospherics, the Engine, the Bridge, your own Core) * You will only have control over the station if you control your physical Core. This seems like a rather dull statement but should you end up shunted (see below) or carded by a person sympathetic enough to not wipe you (good luck with that), you will no longer be able to control anything (unless Wireless is enabled on the AI Card, but again good luck with that) Malfunction Modules Malfunction modules cost Processing Power, a limited resource that the malfunctioning AI usually starts with 100 of. Note that you cannot deficit spend, so be extremely careful with your selection. * Core Upgrade (Costs 50 CPU) : Makes your physical server fireproof. At present this only serves to protect you from burn damage and is thus completely useless. Just ignore it and hope it'll be overhauled or commented out of the code. * AI Turret Upgrade (Costs 50 CPU) : Adds 30 hit points and increases the fire rate of every turret on the station. Note that you aren't the first rogue AI on the station and thus anyone with an IQ above 10 will bypass your turrets easily, which is why you use the Foam Dispensers on the floor. Can buy you time to shunt away, but usually overpriced. * Disable RCDs (Costs 50 CPU) : Gives you a single-use pulse that breaks all RCDs in the game, including your Engineering Cyborg's. Note that new ones will not be affected, so hacked Autolathes can quickly ruin your plan. Usually overpriced for the previous reason, along with the fact that while the Chief Engineer can indeed use his RCD to massively reduce your capabilities (notably allowing him to outright delete your Core Doors), it will be little compared to the mob of crewmen bombing and dismantling your Core. * Machine Overload (Costs 15 CPU) : The very defining ability of a malfunctioning AI, what Cryptographic Sequencers are to Traitors and Arcane Tomes to Cultists. Every time you buy this you will get two uses of the Overload Machine ability. Overloaded machines will explode, destroying them and damaging surrounding tiles and mobs. A target standing directly over said machine will usually be sent into critical and killed shortly thereafter from internal damage. This works with anything that can be considered a machine, including Holopads, Airlocks, APCs and even buttons. The explosion will take about five seconds to happen with a very telltale buzzing noise will warn anyone near the machine and usually give you away. If they are sloppy or distracted, you might score a good hit. Use this to cripple the station and get rid of problematic machinery like the Robotics Console and the Circuit Imprinters (don't forget to remove the spare board in the Secure Technical Storage, please). Best cast by right-clicking the offending machine (the command will list every entity on station) * Blackout (Costs 15 CPU) : This module will give you three uses of a module that has a 30 % chance of overloading the lightning of all APCs on the station with each use. Using it will usually cause mass panic and reduce visibility in the station, although light sources and meson scanners aren't exactly rare. More importantly, the sparks it triggers will light Plasma up and start fires station-wide if you flooded it. Good if you are really lazy, as lights can be overloaded manually. In any case, this will help conceal your actions and make planning harder. * Hack Intercept (Costs 15 CPU) : This stops the intercept message from Centcomm from reaching the station. This power is useless as the Malfunction Intercept was removed, don't get worked up about it. * Reactivate Camera (Costs 15 CPU) : A module with a staggering ten uses allowing you to reactivate a camera that was disabled but not deconstructed outright. That's it, although this ability can be useful if the crew is proactive about cutting your cameras. Note that smart humans usually will cut your cameras in tactical places like your own Core or near important systems so this module is rarely wasted. * Upgrade Camera (Costs 15 CPU) : Another module with ten uses which, instead of repairing cameras, instead improves them with X-Ray vision, EMP-proofing and motion sensors. This allows you to pick select cameras and turn them into detection machines that will spot any activity in its vision cone, see through walls and stay up even against EMP blasts (which helps if Security brings Ion Rifles to the front). Note that the camera will let off an unsubtle beep when upgraded, so consider waiting until no-one is near it. * Cyborg Transformer (Costs 100 CPU) : You will get to place a special factory that will intake living humans and output fully functional Cyborgs slaved to you. Note that while it can easily increase your numbers if you already have competent Cyborgs, it can get very risky if they are seem incompetent or you have none outright. It will also disable shunting when bought and any person with a brain will usually recognize Transformers and warn everyone, so it is usually incompatible with stealth runs. Since it will cost you all your Processing Power, your entire strategy will have to revolve around it, so consider very wisely what you will do with it. Downing Telecommunications and manually destroying the Robotics Control computer seem like two starting no-brainers, along with concealing the damn thing. Silicon Power A digital mind is a terrible thing to waste. AIs already have a wide array of powers available to them, but making the most of those abilities requires a little finesse and knowledge of both general station functionality and specific things. * Malfunctioning AIs can shunt when their physical Core is threatened with final destruction. To do so, simply select an APC you have already hacked after your takeover started and you should find a button allowing you to shunt to it. Shunting will copy you and make you lose all control over the station outside of what you can see from the APC you chose. Your Cyborgs should also space the Pinpointer or massacre and loot the person carrying it (and then space it) as it will point towards your position after you shunt. Janitor Borgs are usually the most qualified for Pinpointer disposal, but any Borg can drag it to the Disposals Driver and send away. Note that you can switch between your Core and your shunt APC at any time, although you risk raising suspicion is someone has an enabled Pinpointer somewhere. * Shock Damage from doors depends on the amount of power currently available on the grid. Usually Engineers tend to set the SMES output to about what the station needs (200-300 kW). Maxing output on all three SMES will give you a raw output of 600 kW if the engine is set up optimally (or the cells are charged) and will shock people badly (it will slow them, but not send them into critical). If you plan to use shocking for anything but making humans drink Kelotane, wiring the Engine to the grid and ensuring the power output is at least in the millions (10^6) will allow you to instantly send people into critical or kill them outright. Note that insulated gloves will naturally prevent such a kill and also give you away if a door randomly ends up shocked so consider your targets carefully and watch for "yellow hands" or hardsuit gloves. * Atmospherics can naturally be tampered with. Plasma fires always have quite the effect on the station and will toast anyone without an Atmospherics Hardsuit, largely reducing the amount of people out to kill you but most likely giving you away. Carbon Dioxide has no obvious cue outside of suddenly worsening health and air alarms and can be used to cause confusion and panic if you are smart enough to act out tampering of the station's Atmospherics (expect some smart fuck to slap manual valves on here though). As for Nitrous Oxide, it's usually trashy unless your target is gullible and has no internals on. Note that Atmospheric Technicians worth their bread might find out by checking station alarms or seeing pipes being activated remotely, so make sure they are busy or dead. Stash the hardsuits away while you are at it, no other hardsuit is immune to the extreme heat of a Plasma fire. * Sabotage the station in general. If you have the time, undo all R&D research by tampering with the R&D Server. Make sure Bomb Research fails, if possible spectacularly (wait until the bomb is armed and block the mass driver, or open the heating mix into Toxins). Corrupt Genetics testing subjects by dousing them with radiation and discreetly set Freezers to maximum temperature when no-one is checking the Cryo Cells. Keep station population and readiness as low as possible by causing problems everywhere without making it obvious you would be behind it. * Use the crew against each other. Rile the crew up into a paranoid frenzy and ensure that you always stay above suspicion, psychology can be a fearsome tool against a gullible crew. * Encourage the station's lower rabble to make a serious mess. Bolt airlocks open (especially those leading into space or secure areas) or override Holodeck safeties and use the dangerous settings. Use your Engineering Cyborgs to cut Electrify Wires on some airlocks and cut the AI Wire to keep yourself above suspicion (try to keep it sneaky for obvious reasons). Make sure Atmospherics is dysfunctional and encourage greytiding if any happens by being a pain in the ass for Security. Note that there normally aren't other antagonists in Malfunction rounds but bored admins may spawn a few and the crew is always up to fill in for those missing antagonists if the station feels too calm. * Be the Security AI the station deserves and absolutely doesn't want. Let executions take place, maybe with minimalist acting. Make sure any of your Security Cyborgs deliver the law that Security Officers cannot (make sure they respect Asimov outside of Law 2. Stealing a pen is harm, naturally). If you think the station is too calm find people that aren't being supervised by Security and aren't too important or trusted and set them to Arrest on the Security Records under ridiculous serious charges ("Seen breaking into Place" is a good way to cause hysteria) and let Security debate over letting the person go or taking the charges to the letter. Targets with a potential for the crime you are framing them for are always nice. Accuse the Scientists seen in Toxins of "Distributing Bombs" while he has a backpack full of bombs, accuse the Atmospheric Technicians of the "Atmospherics Tampering" you did, accuse persons who have important items they shouldn't have access to of "Stealing", if you murder someone and get away with it make sure someone is framed for it. Don't forget to take small petty "crimes" to the logical extreme * Make the crew think antagonists are in their midst to get heat off of you maybe even let you get away with shitty behavior if you are lucky. Traitors are a favorite since they might allow you to get a free pass if one of your hacked APCs are found (remember to unlock your hacked APCs, emags short the lock, hacking doesn't) but any antagonist will do since everyone knows there cannot be a malfunctioning AI along with other antagonists the crew will be too focused on ensuring the station is safe. Try to be subtle and passive in your acting as an AI calling out antagonists behind every corner is very suspicious. Also, don't forget you don't always have to give names. Talk about "that alien in Xenobiology" or the "Unknown absorbing someone outside the station hull". Just try to stay consistent. * Making sure Medical cannot function to slowly tear the crew apart. Once the time is nigh, remember to blow up the Cloning Pod sky-high (preferably the scanner and not the computer) and to cut all equipment power in Medbay. * The Telecommunications System is your canvas and will be absolutely critical to make sure the crew doesn't figure out your schemes (or to make sure they have trouble communicating once time is nigh). Cutting Equipment in the Telecommunications Chamber will disable the communications in a rather obvious way and you likely won't get away with it especially if the communications cut-out is long or repeated. Using a mute script, uploading it and then setting it on ALL channels (not just Common) on the other hand will allow you to mute your targets if needed but might not be reliable. Remember to always mute your target in one way or another when attempting to kill them as you won't get another chance if they get to frame you. In case you don't fear having to deal with radio-wielding Crewmen you can also just overload the Telecommunications Hub and pretend a Traitor did it with C4 or randomly mess with the settings until it seems unrecoverable (changing the server on the Hub is enough to ruin everything, try to change it to something close for extra confusion) Cyborg Abilities Your Cyborgs are one of the greatest resources you'll ever get up to the point where not having any under your command will usually make things much more complicated. Make absolutely sure they are properly briefed and then send them away to help you in your misdeeds. * To hack your Cyborgs simply switch to the Robotics Control Console in the Research Director's Office and open the Cyborg list. You will get the option to manually hack your Cyborgs. Note that it will visibly damage your Cyborgs to any smart Roboticist unlocking or locking their covers and as such should never be done before they received at least a power cell upgrade. * Every Module has its uses although with a grand maximum of two starting Cyborgs and the knowledge that you likely won't get extra ones unless your "takeover" spans hours, you'll have to choose smartly. Security Cyborgs are feared fighters with their Taser Gun (and Laser Gun when hacked) and have an excuse to be stalking around the hallways and Maintenance "subduing criminals", Engineering Borgs will be your hands and will save you a lot of effort, Standard Borgs are perfect for classy assassinations with their Stun Baton (and Energy Sword when hacked) and Janitor Borgs have a trash bag which can usually carry far more than trash and when hacked can spray Space Lube which will outright make moving impossible where it is sprayed for a fair amount of time. Other Cyborgs modules can work in a pinch but are really hit or miss. * All Cyborgs are vulnerable to flashes if they are unlucky or bad enough to be hit by them (Wall-Mounted, Hand-Held, Grenade or Portable) and will be stunned for some time, usually leading to a quick and painful destruction with a dual-wielded fireaxe or an Energy Gun. Ion Rifles are also available in the Secure Armory and will knock your Cyborgs out for a very long time by delivering a EMP Blast that has a frightening area of effect. Get rid of them using a Janitor Borg is no-one is watching the Secure Armory or make damn sure no-one even gets to retrieve them once your override starts. Axe-crazy personnel can also use EMP Grenades if they somehow manage to get their hands on them although they are very easy to detect and avoid (at least for the concerned Cyborg) and extremely hard to obtain. * Engineering Cyborgs can repair dents on other cyborgs using their Welder Tool. This will usually be their main function once you go loud, although component damage will quickly disable Cyborgs if they take too much heat. * If you can no longer see one of your Cyborgs on the Robotics Control console (if you did not destroy it for some reason), it was most likely destroyed. In the odd case where you still see him function, he was manually fixed by a smart Roboticist and will most likely be out for you now. Terminate him if possible, or hope someone mistakes him for rogue and does it for you. * If you suspect a Cyborg is being manually cut off from you, most likely because the Cyborg himself will scream on Binary, just blow the Cyborg before it is made independent of you and turns against you. Remember to give the Roboticist a proper reward for this, as he's most likely behind it. * While a few Cyborg modules can navigate in space, keeping them inside the station is better to avoid an unfortunate spacing. * Neither Service nor Mining Cyborgs have abilities that are outstandingly useful to a Malfunctioning AI. And seriously, why would any Cyborg be fucking around on the Asteroid ? Hacked APCs there don't even count towards your countdown. * The Achilles' Heel of all your Cyborgs is the Robotics Control Console. At any time someone can engage the emergency self-destruction and then physically disable the Console, dooming your servants. If you don't want to get annihilated and insulted by your own damn Cyborgs after the round ends, make sure no-one gets their sticky hands on the spare board in Secure Storage and that the finished Console in the Research Director's Office is either deconstructed and the board disposed off by your Engineering Cyborg or overloaded and blown to smithereens, noting that an APC with cut power and shocked airlock duo can very easily be bypassed. Make sure the Circuit Imprinters are also disabled Strategy There's really only one plan for Malfunctioning AIs that works, and usually only small variances will lead to a victory against a remotely competent crew. Part One : The Subtle Killer All people will instinctively do this until they are discovered twenty minutes in, but with correct handling it will make the rest of your plan much easier. Hack out-of-the-way APCs and make sure no-one notices them using bolted doors with disabled bolt lights at your discretion. You can try and blame hacked APCs with unlocked interfaces (must be done manually) on Traitors too, but unless you already set up the crew to think that they have active Traitors in their midst you'll usually have a large congregate of angry crewmen in front of your Core within the minute. Hack as many APCs as possible before the takeover is discovered. As for the Mining Station, just make sure the Miners there don't get back once time is nigh as their Mining Drills, Gibonite and Hardsuits might cause you problems. Cut the Mining Communications before or when you get called out and disable the APCs powering the Shuttle Consoles to the best of your ability before calling them back to the station, preferably just before declaring Delta. Once you have enough Cyborgs and hacked APCs take increasing risks until discovered, then hit Delta Code and go all out. If you are kind of a pussy you can also thin the crowd using shocked airlocks until it's just too obvious to pass. Whatever you do, always plan ahead. Part Two : The Blitzkrieg This is when it is clear beyond possible doubt to the crew that you are rogue, usually a short time before or after activating Delta Code. Give the crew no time to react to the sudden change of plans. You will usually want several uses of Machine Overload ready for the dirty work that is about to begin. You can afford to buy it up to six times for a total of twelve uses with 10 CPU Time left (although you won't need that much uses) Once Delta Code is activated, your first moves will be important. Drop the bolts in your Core and around it, electrify it all and then toggle the bolt lights to make them look like good old functional airlocks. If the Engine is optimized and wired to the grid, you should total a good half of the crew, especially if you electrify all the doors around the Bridge and Central before people converge here. If it's not done already, overload the Robotics Console, the Cloner and bolt Technical Storage down tight. Cut off power to crisis departments like Medbay or Science to prevent the crew from recovering their sudden losses. Make absolutely sure the Chemistry Dispensers in both Chemistry and the Science Outpost Chemistry Room are blown sky-high so that the crew can't make Thermite to hasten the break-in into your core. From there you'll have to hold out, don't forget shunting if the crew is better than they look. It might be a good idea to shut off the Telecommunications completely to avoid people from planning. Then, switch to Atmospherics and pump Plasma into the Mix, set the Mix Computer to max input and output and then pump Mix into Distro. Make sure all pumps are maxed along the way and that the Mix Chamber is not spaced. Replace Air in the hallways for a quick effect then overload the lights. You should total a large part of the station quickly and might even clear out important places like the Bridge or your own core (and before you ask, plasma fires are good for you and your turrets, or at least they don't hurt) Spare Overload Machine modules should now be used to try and kill important crewmen or groups of people standing over APCs, Holopads or next to wall-mounted machinery. Blowing up the Turret Control in your Core Access after setting it to Lethal will also allow you to get rid of a Head and avoid an embarrassing free pass through your Upload (although it is much more likely you will be assaulted from the Bridge). Buttons and other wall-mounted electronics always explode on the clear floor tile "under them", so use that to potentially total someone trying to melt through the walls (the explosion should not damage a reinforced wall badly enough to not justify a clean kill) Naturally your Cyborgs should be destroying everything and killing everyone during that time period. If you did everything correctly, finishing or getting rid of dying and dead crewmen shouldn't even be needed. Make damn sure the Armory stays locked down tight too, flashes and spare Energy Guns will only do so much. While you wait for your System Override to complete you should monitor the crew and make sure they don't pull a dirty trick on you along with continuing to shock and bolt doors and potentially use overloaded machines offensively across the station. Now would be a good time to mess with Atmospherics and pump Plasma into the entire station if you haven't done so already. Threats to your Reign * Foreign Agents and the Deathsquad/ERT : In case the gods absolutely hate you the crew might contain other antagonists or Centcomm might send help. There's little you can do to prevent it, just treat them as highly-armed and competent crewmen. * The Comdom Captain : One of the most dangerous personnel to your takeover. He has absolute authority on the station and usually carries the dreaded Pinpointer on him if you haven't got rid of it. He has Core access and will not hesitate to use it at the first sign of trouble and has full access to the entire station anyways. Getting rid of him discreetly should be one of your goals. * The Head of Personnel : Acts as the Captain's right-hand with similar all-access and can at times be as dangerous as the Captain himself. While he usually does not carry the Pinpointer or most of the Captain's gear on him, he can take authority over the station in absence of the Captain, give all-access to the crew and act as a replacement Head of Security as he always fucking does. Killing him is always a plus. * The Research Director : While he has AI Core access and can use the full potential of the Science Wing against you, the main risk with him is that he has access to the Robotics Console. Once the Console is blown though, he is toothless. Make sure to take care of him and his own stupid department by disabling Toxins and Telescience and making sure spare boards and weapons don't get made. * The Scientists and Roboticists : Will usually replace the Research Director if he's taken out and use the advances of Science to kill you. Neither of them can actually access the Robotics Console, but this likely won't be a problem on the long run and you must get rid of it. If you forgot to lock them out of the Research Outpost you might also find them here, where they will use things like the Chemistry Dispenser and free space-worthy suits liberally. * The Warden and the Head of Security : While their leadership of Security is already a problem in itself, the main and most serious problem you'll face is the fact they'll guard the Secure Armory and distribute guns once it's time to kill you, and check cameras when bored, potentially finding your hacked APCs. This is especially true for the Warden for which browsing cameras is a common pastime. You can always get rid of him and discreetly stash him away in his own Brig, but be sneaky about it. Just remember that an active Warden will largely increase the odds of you being busted out of the blue. * The Security Force : Will usually be the first crewmen to bear arms if you don't manage to lock the Secure Armory down tight and will do their best to use it on your Cyborgs and then you. Otherwise carries ample supplies of flashes and flashbangs (which may blind your Cyborgs but are usually inconvenient due to friendly fire). Their armor can make them slightly tougher, but in the absence of actual weaponry it's nothing a few laser blasts and shocked airlocks can't overcome. * The Paramedic : Will usually stand in front of his Crew Monitoring Computer idly until someone falls into critical or dies, at which point he will usually rush to the location to recover the patient often using his EVA suit. You should usually ambush him on your first victim and then clean up, otherwise he might notice more daring assassinations and call you out (especially if the person you are killing played it safe and told everyone he or she would be dealing with you). * The Geneticists : Holds a special mention in Medbay as their work can lead both to you being discovered faster (X-Ray Vision, Remote Viewing) and beaten more easily (Fire Resistance, Hulk). Usually can't be rid off as Genetics is a public area but can easily be framed and arrested for existing distributing powers without the CMO's supervision. * The Chemist : Will use the Chemistry Dispenser to make Thermite once you are busted. Just destroy the Chemistry Dispensers and he'll be utterly useless. * The Chief Medical Officer and the Medical Doctors : Will usually be tasked with saving the ass of the many people that will fall to your shocked doors and your Cyborg Army. If Medbay is disabled, there's little they can do against you outside of whimpering and giving some first-aid to the last people standing. Do notice they can fill in for the Paramedics and check the Crew Monitoring Computers from time to time, although they will usually be less proactive about recovering dead crewmen. * The Chief Engineer and the Station Engineers : In their job to maintain the station they might notice your tampering and more dangerously your hacked APCs. It usually is a good idea to confuse and slowly dismantle a competent Engineering Team to avoid being found out. Once it comes down to fighting, Engineers will usually be cooled enough by their training to wade through your row of shocked doors, cut your cameras, deconstruct your Core airlocks and personally thrust their boot into your monitor. Make damn sure your Cyborgs beat the crap out of them and hide them and the Hardsuit they are likely wearing away. As long as they aren't wearing Atmospheric Hardsuits, Plasma fires will also slowly kill them. * The Atmospheric Technician : Will usually be tasked with "improving" Atmospherics and fixing the air during breaches. The presence of a competent Atmospheric Technician will usually prevent you from flooding Plasma. He'll likely get in the way of those matters and should be killed if you really insist on flooding everything. Remember to trash his Hardsuit as it literally makes one immune to Plasma fires when worn. * The Miners : Recall the Mining Shuttle, cut the Equipment on both shuttle points (Mining and Research Outpost), cut the Mining Communications if Telecommunications aren't down already, drop the bolts, cut bolt lights and electrify all important doors and let them sit down at the windows and enjoy the sight of an exploding station. * The Quartermaster and the Cargo Technicians : Will usually order fighting supplies and insulated gloves if left unchecked. Cut Equipment to both consoles and bolt all the doors, then bolt the externals airlocks in the Cargo Sorting Area open to space the room and prevent them from actually using the place. * Everyone else : Just let them panic, suicide, bunch up in front of your Core and disturb your destruction, steal important supplies only to waste them or desperately attempt to suicide-bomb you with Fuel Tanks. Anything they'll do will be too little too late if you played your cards right. Game Ending Conditions * If the AI survives and secures full control of the station (or detonates the nuclear device and destroys everything), the AI wins. * If the AI finishes controlling the station but somehow dies before detonating the station or waiting the full minute needed for a peaceful ending, the AI wins a minor victory. * If the AI dies in any other way whatsoever, the crew wins. Category:Guides Category:Game Modes